them, and poured the stones out at the door in a heap.
On the morrow the woman watched for her husband to return from the gardens and bring her food. But when he came he came empty, and she boiled pebbles once more, and drank the water in which she had boiled them. And now the heap of stones in the doorway was great indeed. Then she said again to her husband, "Wilt thou never bring me food that I may eat?"
"Truly," said the man, "on the morrow thou shalt eat and be filled."
But the woman trusted not his fair words, for he had already lied to her. She therefore prepared to leave him. When the sun was rising high in the sky she took two short sticks which women use for weeding tools, and tied them to her legs at the knees and the ankles. This was in order that she might be strong to travel far. Then she took bundles of coconut leaf bristles and fastened them under her arms, and she put on a rough skirt of banana leaf over her other skirts. Then she made a great hole at the back of the house wherein she sat, whereby to escape, and waited to see if her husband would bring her food or no. And even as she watched for him he came, and in his hand was no food at all. Then said the woman as he drew nigh, "Eat thou of our food, and moreover nurse thou our child, for I go now, and will never more return." So saying, she stooped and passed through the hole which she had
